sampsons

POST SUMMER 2010

2010-11-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

It is about time I updated my blog. Where does the time go? Well, after a fun summer at camp, we decided to have some "family time" at home. We went to the zoo....

Went waterskiing at East Canyon Resevoir...

and spent a weekend in Park City! It was so nice to spend time with just our boys.
YEA for us!

Summer Friends

2009-09-03T08:19:00.001-07:00

The Hollands came to visit- we had fun hanging out with them and seeing our kids hit it off.

The Williams family came down to say good-bye. Their family lived behind us and her kids we my kids' buddies. They moved to Little Rock and it has been sad to have them gone. My house is much quieter without them. We miss their cute faces.

Luke found a friend this summer. He is my kid that finds plenty of animal friends. He found a large frog in Lake Powell that his uncle (Steve) "rescued" and set free. Luke was NOT happy.

Here is Bens friend that moved to Arkansas. It is difficult getting used to not having these kids around-we miss them. !!!!

Goodbye Summer

2009-09-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

This summer was a lot of fun and I am lamenting that it is over already and that my kids are in school. Camp was short, but we had such great kids this summer that made it fly by even faster! We had a few visits from family and friends. My nephew came down and spent time with my boys- we love JW. Linda came down and saved me from cooking by myself the first weekend. My mom came down and saved me the rest of the summer. We then went to Lake Powell with some friends and stayed on a beautiful houseboat and had a great time! (pictures to follow when I find my camera battery)...Love,Love,Love my summers------school, here we come!

SUMMER

2009-06-25T19:09:00.001-07:00

This is how I feel about school ending and summer beginning. I think that this expression sums it all up. I love it that inbetween school and going to the ranch we have some time with no schedule and we can have some free time with me and the boys. (Dan still has work, so I try not to rub it in too much):)

Our favorite pasttime was to ride our bikes (all 4 of my boys can ride 2-wheelers now) to Maverik and get treats! The other day I ran and my 2 youngest rode their bikes for almost 4 miles! How fun is that? This picture was taken in the fall, but the summer is even more beautiful. Everything is so green against the red rock and blue sky. The mornings are myfavorites. I love to go out and exercise in the cool, clean air and enjoy my surroundings. I feel really lucky to have my summers here. Love, love, love summer!

WANTED

2009-04-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

O.k. so, he looks innocent enough, but it is deceiving. I can hardly believe it myself, but behind those sweet eyes and charming smile, there is a little devil in there somewhere that shows his face every once-in-a-while and when he does oh boy watch out!
Ever since Luke was little, he has had a difficult time channeling his anger, remember when he put all of our Christmas goodies in the fish tank, or cut up a bunch of money or spilled nail polish (bright red) on our brand new carpet? Or how about the time he took everything out of our storage closet and emptied them and smeared them on our upstairs carpet and hallway (lotions, shampoos, rubbing alcohol etc.) Well, as of late, as he gets bigger, so does the destruction in our home. We have a few more holes where we didn't plan on having them, and very creative art work on our walls that I wish was on paper instead, but what do you do?
This weekend, there was something in the air....all of my boys caught it and as a result, they were all grounded on Monday. Sunday mornings are hard enough to get the kids ready and on time for church. Well, Luke woke up on the wrong side of the bed for some reason and had to go to his room to think about his temper tantrum. I always get a bit nervous to discipline him because I know that I will pay for it in some way or another. So, he was upstairs, and very quiet, so I went up to check on him. I didn't notice anything right away, so we talked about his behavior and then he was able to come out and join the family.
We all arrived to church (early...a miracle in and of itself) and we got seated in the middle of the chapel and all was going well until Luke "accidently" hit Ben in the facewhen he was pulling a lid off of a pen and his hand slipped and as a result ended up on Bens cheek. Well, Ben didn't see what had happened and thought Luke was smacking him in the face for no reason, and decided that the best thing to do would be to punch Luke back in the face with his fist! Now, here we are in the MIDDLE of the chapel and my boys are in a fist fight! After church, we came home and I was really tired. I went upstairs and everyone had calmed down, and was watching T.V. I laid down in bed and turned on a show, Ben came upstairs to watch it with Dan and me. After a while, I asked Ben to check on the other boys downstairs, he came back in and said,"Mom, you don't want to even go down there." I asked why and he told me there was water EVERYWHERE. I went down to find that my whole kitchen floor and T.V. room was soaking in water. My boys thought that it would be fun to have a water fight INSIDE the house. They took latex gloves and filled them with water and chucked them at each other. My carpet was soaking in water, you know, the kind of wet that when you step on the carpet, your foot sinks into it and a couple inches of water come over the top of your foot! And to top it off, there was a pile of pretzels that were now soggy under one of the chairs. (Amazing how food gets in the T.V. room when we have a rule that there is to be no food anywhere but in the kitchen.) I was not a happy camper.
Monday comes around and everyone was in trouble. I go to put on my favorite sweat pants and notice that someone had taken scissors to them. I then looked around and noticed that he (Luke) had taken my haircutting scissors and cut up a few other things too. I went into his room and found that he had thrown a bunch of things outside from his window! Now, I know why he was so quiet in time out Sunday morning, he was pretty busy.
Later that day we had to go to the store and get new shoes for a couple of the boys. While we were there, Luke asks if he could get a treat, I said "no" and didn't think much of it. We get home and I see that Luke is playing with something in his pocket---I ask to see what it is and he slowly brings out his hand with a piece of candy in it. I about died! So, I told him we were going to have to go back and pay for it with his own money. We go upstairs and get out his piggybank and I was amazed to see how much money he actually had. I asked him how he got so much money, he revealed that he had been getting it from his brothers and from our change drawer! WHAT? After we had another discussion about stealing....we took some of the money (probably Joshs) and went back to the store. On the way down I was explaining how when people take things that are not theirs, sometimes the police come and take people to jail. Stealing is serious and that he would be very lucky if they decided not to call the police. I was hoping that this would scare him enough to think about what the concequences would be. We get to the store hoping I had prepped him enough that he would be a little scared. We get to the counter and the clerk (a 17 yr old skater-dude) is behind the counter and we tell him what happened and that we want to pay for the candy, and he replys "Thats o.k. dude, it will be a $1.53." and laughs. Luke thought that what he had done must have been kindof "cute" so he starts to smile and giggle. GREAT! Blew that one too.
What am I doing wrong as a parent? I feel that everything I do gets turned around somehow and my really brilliant speeches, lessons and talks are not sinking in as I would think that they should.
Ever had "One of those weekends" where one thing after another seems to happen and nothing goes as planned and no one listens? Well, that was my weekend. I write about it not to label my child(ren) as NAUGHTY, but more as a therapy and definately as a journal, so that in 20 years (and it may take that long) I can look back and laugh. I know that I will miss these days because, Luke may be cutting up clothing now, but in 10 years it may be worse:)

Another Sisters Trip!

2009-03-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

I always look forward to my sisters trip every year. This year is was VEGAS! O.K. so if anyone has been to Las Vegas lately they will know that Vegas is pretty much a hole! So, that said, we had a lot of fun and love getting together no matter where it may be. The highlight for me was going to the Vegas temple, very pretty and quite a beautiful oasis! Loved being able to go with my siblings and my hubby!

Of course, another highlight was meeting our president...he was happy to meet me too I think!

We did many fun activities one of them was car racing. I would have won if we were able to do a few more laps, but Steve took it all, (no surprises there).

We played in a tennis tournament, and in our minds, Dan and I won. But Kent and Steve bullied us into the last game and we were exhausted. Another highlight was the aquarium that we went to. Those are jellyfish behind us:) Very cool. Sharks, eels, and all kinds of fish- Good times.

Despite the fact that we had a blast with the family, we were ready to come home after a weekend on inhaling smoke, seeing way too much skin and watching people lose all of their money. Who wouldn't want to come home to this? We missed the boys. Next year????

Winter

2009-03-22T18:34:00.001-07:00

Love the snow! We have had so much fun skiing this winter. I have taken a bunch of little boys up a few times, and it has been great. I love that my boys are getting into skiing (it gives me a great excuse to go!)

We love playing in the white stuff. But as much as we love the snow....it is time for it to turn to spring. I don't mind the rain, the rain is great to run in and I love to listen to it and watch it come down. But the last few days have been so nice, that it is hard not to want spring to be here.

SLACKER

2009-01-04T15:15:00.001-08:00

O.K. so I thought if I kindof started where I left off, that I could kindof get caught up. I can't believe that it was Halloween time since I updated this blog, but I have been sucked into the world of Facebook-(don't ask) and it has taken up quite a bit of time. Soooooo,

for Thanksgiving, we took a roadtrip to Arizona, we went to Pine to one of my sisters cabin. It was beautiful there. We were all there except one missionary and my brothers family. We missed them, but we sure had quite the crowd! The view was amazing! We had a little rain, but that didn't stop the activities. Some went rock climbing, Paul ran about 100 miles and we played a little volleyball too. Loved being with my family. Then we went to Prescott, where we went antique shopping and saw my two nieces who are rodeo queens in the light parade!!! Yee Haw!! they are dang cute.

So, now on to Christmas. The beginning of December Dan and I went to Colorado Springs to our annual conference-we had a great time. We stayed a night in the Broadmore Hotel- WOW is all that I have to say about that. Then when we got home, I had one mad little 4-year old who wanted to do Christmas decorations a LONG time ago. He would get mad when we would drive by the homes that already had its lights up. He kept begging me to get them up.

He was so excited when we finally got the lights up on the tree and he helped me with the decorations. The prodding didn't stop there. We HAD to get the lights up on the outside of the house, there had to be some presents wrapped under the tree and never were we to ride in the car without the Christmas music playing. He sure kept me on my toes this year. Now that everything is put away for next year, he is still giving me a hard time that we didn't get ALL of the lights on the outside put up- when it was nearing Christmas, it was so dang cold, I didn't do much of anything outside anyway. Next blog will be about Christmas day, the fun things we did during the break and New Years. What is in store for 2009?????

Halloween

2008-11-17T09:35:00.001-08:00

I never used to be a big fan of Halloween. But for the last few years, I have really started to enjoy the festivities of it all. We did a lot of fun things as a family this fall. We always love to do the traditional things, like picking out our own pumpkins, carving, etc. But we found some other fun things to do too. We went to Cornbellys at Thanksgiving Point and we also went to Farnsworth Farms one night and did a hayride, watched a video outside and had hot chocolate and doughnuts. I am really getting into the spirit of Halloween!!!

Discovering the little tools that are easier to carve with has definately made pumpkin carving a much more enjoyable experience. I could never figure out how everyone could do such intricate carvings with such a huge knife. One favorite find to make Halloween a better holiday. (I know that everyone on the planet knows about these, but I am really slow).

Costumes were a lot easier this year. My Darth Vader wanted to be Darth last year, so we got the costume together and then at the last minute, spiderman was much more attractive and Darth Vader was a stupid idea. So, this year we decided to try it again, and it worked. Luke Skywalker had the look and with a borrowed karate uniform....Tada! The other two costumes were on sale and there you go... No sewing, no going broke, and not a lot of thought had to go into these this year, who knows aobut next????

I know that these look professionally done, but no, they were done by some pretty creative kids. PURE TALENT.

Dan found a new way to take the little boys trick-or-treating this year. He thought that this was a FABULOUS idea! Since the kids run from house to house (note the child in the back ground demonstrating this fact) this would be a much easier way to keep up with them. Nice, huh?

Another Birthday

2008-11-17T09:26:00.001-08:00

Luke turned 6 in October. It just happened to be on our anniversary when he decided to come into our family. We had a couple of small parties with the family for his big day. We were at grandmas in this pic and he was able to be with his cousins from Colorado-girls! He was a little embarrassed when we all sang to him.

There is nowhere like Chuck E. Cheese-yum. to spend a little time to celebrate. This year was not a friend party, but we took one of his best buddies with us anyway.

Happy Birthday to my big 6 year old!!!

Family Nights

2008-10-29T17:34:00.000-07:00

Where can you have this much fun with your family? Only at home when you plan to have the evening set apart for family time!!! I love family nights. I love that my kids are sad if we happen to skip one. I love it that they get excited for an activity or treat or to plan a lesson. Now, I know that these days may pass, but for now I am cherrishing the time that we do have to spend together.

FALL

2008-10-15T11:18:00.001-07:00

Fall is definately my favorite time of year. We went for a hike behind the new Draper temple just as the leaves were changing. It was so pretty.
We went up to Park City and I tried to get some of the beautiful scenery in the photo, (no, not Dan and Luke), but the photo didn't give the foliage justice. It was so nice up in the mountains.
One of my favorite parts about this fall was a visit from my friends the Skeens. The BYU homecoming game brought them down from Seattle. I love spending time with them. Their visit was WAY too short, but at least they squeezed me in on Sunday. We weren't too good with the self-timer, but we finally got a good photo. :)

Thanks for the visit----We love you and your family. See you soon (I hope)!!!

Hunting Season

2008-10-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

WARNING: These photos are not for the weak stomach. But I do have to say that my nieces ROCK. Two of my nieces drew out for the antelope hunt near the ranch. So, they drove up to Utah with their dad and went hunting and got their prize!!! We were down for conference weekend and were able to witness their skills with a gun- (I guess it runs in the family)!! Their oldest brother and sister got the much loved job of skinning the animals. I know where I am going if this economy gets so bad that we all have to live off the land-They have SKILLS!

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays

2008-10-15T09:59:00.001-07:00

Josh is 4!! Can't believe that my baby is 4 already. He is such a bright spot in our lives. He has such a fun personality. We didn't do a traditional party for him, but he was able to choose 2 friends to go swimming with us.
Our even numbered birthdays are for family, so Josh got to pick what he wanted to do for his activity. He chose the Alpine Slide-so we went to Park City and went on the slide and then did the Coaster, which we highly recommend-If you ask Josh what he did as he went down the coaster, be ready to plug your ears because he will literally share with you the exact sound he made all the way down....AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH.
My cute Luke turned 6 on our anniversary:) Those of you that think that it was such a great anniversary present, well lets just say that it was such a great moment, then in the years to follow, not so fun to have both on the same day. We don't regret having Luke in our lives-he is wonderful. (We have been waiting for 2 years for the front teeth to come in....)
For his family birthday, we took one friend (and his sister) to Chuck E. Cheese, (his choice). Wow what a party that was. We celebrated later with cake and ice cream. Love my boys. Fall is a busy time with birthdays at the Sampson house.

Birthday Boy

2008-09-15T12:34:00.001-07:00

Joe just turned 9 on August 4th, so on September 4th, we decided that because his birthday is always celebrated at the ranch without his friends around, this year we would have a party for him in Draper! We invited some of his friends from the neighborhood and school to come swimming with us and have a PARTY!!! It was a lot of fun for him.
This picture was taked to get most of the kids in the picture with the cake, but apparently something was going on between Luke and Joe at this moment, no, really, is was a fun party.

This is the Baby Joe Joe that I still picture in my mind. They grow too fast and I forget how little they used to be. We love you Joe- and here is to many more years to come:) xoxo

Back to school.....again

2008-09-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

Don't we all love it when school starts again? I love this time of year. The kids are so excited to go, the smell of the classrooms, new clothes and the anticipation of what the new year will be like. This is usually true for me, but this year was a little different....
My 5 year old started kindergarten AND
my 3 year-old started pre-school! I was in a little bit of a shock when everyone was gone. Now, I know that it is only for a few hours for a couple days a week, but still it was really strange having everyone at school. I know it will be another change when they will all be in school all day, but for now I will take this little baby step before huge changes start to happen. Love my boys---

Post camp activities

2008-09-08T09:34:00.001-07:00

Just before camp ended, Joe had a birthday, he is now a big 9 year old kid! For his birthday, he wanted to go for a horseback ride with his family. So, we rode up in the mountains to a lake and had lunch. It was a beautiful day and Joe had a huge smile on his face.
Josh doubled with Dan and Luke doubled with me. Josh was pretty much doing the splits the whole way, but he loved it too.
Another big event....my nephew (the boys cousin) Parker came home from his mission to Russia. It was so much fun to see him and my boys were so excited to have him come home. (isn't he handsome?)
After camp was over, we needed a break from our summer adventures. We went up to my brothers condo in Park City and enjoyed a much deserved weekend with our family. We went boating on Jordanelle...(just a hint, NEVER go to Jordanelle on a sunny Saturday, everyone else has the same idea). It was so dang crowded we could barely turn around, but the boys had a blast tubing.
At least it was a nice day. :) The Alpine Slide was one of the big hits of the weekend. We all had races, don't ask Dan and the 3 oldest boys who won:) We had such a great time hanging out, swimming and watching the olympics. Thanks family!

They're all mine

2008-07-27T19:49:00.000-07:00

This was the week that we had to convince Josh that he was NOT going kayaking. He was ready to go and thought that he could make it for a week on the river in his own kayak. (Almost thought about sending him:))
This is an outfit that Luke wore for weeks. He compiled it all by himself. It is kindof creepy in this picture, but the sunglasses were added when they were giving them away at the hardware store- the gloves??? Don't quite know what to say about them, but I have to love him just the same.
Potty break in the mountains on one of our many trips up to the horse camp.
Again, these are my colorful boys that are really creative at camp. Starting to worry if camp is really good for them or not. They had so much fun with their stick horses. I think that I am raising a bunch of rednecks...........
The END!

Hiking

2008-07-21T21:51:00.001-07:00

So after our convincing Josh that he was NOT going on the backpacking trip with the campers, or the kayaking, or the horse trip, we decided that we needed to take him on a hiking trip of our own. We walked through a river up a canyon in Capitol Reef and it was a lot of fun.
The boys could float in some parts and they actually found a waterslide that was fun until Ben got his bum stuck half way down:)
Josh was one happy camper!!!

Projects at the ranch

2008-07-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

Ya, o.k., I know, we are the reigning beauties of the ranch. Anyway, my friend Christine came down with her family for the weekend and decided to help me with a few projects. ( I will have to take pictures of the whole finished project later). We painted the t.v. room a beautiful shade of yellow......
Christine was hard at work making me a mirror to hang in the t.v. room and....
my favorite project was painting the brick behind the wood-burning stove, although this wasn't the finished color, it made a HUGE difference in that room. Thanks Chris!!! It is always nice to have friends stop by. Anyone who wants to come down and do a project or two is welcome anytime:)

SUMMER

2008-06-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

Summer is here. We have started the summer camp craze. The weather here is really nice.
The first week Ben went Mountain Biking and Joe went backpacking, so I had the first week with my two youngest. Josh really thought that he was going on the backpacking trip. He was devestated when he realized that he couldn't go. He wore that backpack around all day with a waterbottle inside of it. He was so sad. We will have to go on a hike later on.
We did get to go to the park in Capitol Reef. We saw a ton of deer and this tree is a favorite to climb on with its roots exposed. It's nice to have a little time with the two youngest.

End of the school year

2008-06-19T19:58:00.001-07:00

I can't believe how quickly this school year went by. Some of my favorite things are the end of the year activities. Talent shows, carnivals, parties etc. One thing that was new this year was the "4th grade recorder program". This was the first time I had heard of this. Boy, I didn't know that Ben had such talent. It was beautiful to say the least, ALMOST brought a tear to my eye. Way to go Ben!
Another thing that we did was to see "Kung Fu Panda" . Super cute show. My boys loved it. Now, the only problem is is that they all think that Karate is great to practice on each other (not so fun when they think they know all of the moves and end up hurting themselves and others).
We also had a suprise visit from a friend of ours that just had a baby boy. ALMOST makes me want another one, but way more fun to hold and look at and then know that I don't have to breast feed, get up every 3 hours, diaper etc. They named him Lucas- he is so cute!!!
We also fit in a party for my brother Steve. It was his birthday and we celebrated at our house for a barbeque. He is really amazing and we all love him.
We are now at the ranch and enjoying this first week here. It is beautiful weather and the campers will come on Sunday. I absolutely love coming down here and experiencing the different kind of beauty here. I am one lucky girl to be with my 5 boys here for the summer. We'll see everyone in August!!!

Dentist

2008-06-05T19:53:00.001-07:00

I wish that I had this much fun when I went to the dentist. I don't ever remember being happy or excited when I saw my dentist. I always knew that I was there for some painful reason. I would end up trying to be brave and focus on the cheap toy that I would get to pick out of the toy box after my mouth was numb as I was unknowingly biting my tongue and cheek. I have to say that I love our pediadentist (sp?). My kids are actually excited when I tell them that we are going to the dentist. What's up with that? His whole office is set up for kids. All of the assistants are cute with my boys and are so nice all of the time. (Maybe they suck on the nitrus gas on their breaks- I would actually like a tank hooked up in my closet at home so that I could take small breaks during the day:). Anyway, my kids love to go because it is one time that they get to play video games (x-box orPS2?? I don't know the difference). Then, they get cool sword balloons that they can hit each other with. I wish that I could get this much enthusiasm to get them to do chores etc. Anyway, they all passed with flying colors not one cavity in 4 sugar hungry mouths! Way to go boys.

Memorial Day

2008-05-30T20:03:00.001-07:00

Memorial Day weekend is one that I look forward to every year. My whole side of the family usually comes to the ranch and we EAT, play games, fish, ride 4-wheelers, ride horses, and hang out, oh, and did I mention EAT??? This year nobody from my family was able to come except for my loyal and favorite (just in case anyone from my family is reading this, they will know how is on top of my list:)), brother Steve. He invited a few of his friends and Dans sister and her husband came along with Dan's brother and his friend. We ended up with quite a crew there. The weather was suppose to be bad, but it ended up being really nice. One of the big hits of the weekend was the "ranger" that my brother brought down. My boys were more content being all together than they ever have been. They drove around and around for hours, it was an amazing babysitter. Ben drove and notice that my two youngest have helmets on and holding on for dear life?
So, needless to say that after driving around and around in the dusty dirt 24-7, they all had a layer of dust that covered their entire bodies. I love getting them all clean after a long day of play, becaues after all, isn't that what the ranch is for?
On our way home, we ran into a man who went hunting for bear and mountain lion, he showed us the pelts of the bear and mountain lion. They weren't too excited about touching them, but they thought they were pretty cool. All I can say is that people can get all of the bear and mountain lions near our ranch that they want. :) We had a really great weekend thanks to everyone that came. I love getting together with family and friends at the ranch, it makes it a lot of fun.

Shout Out

2008-05-13T18:22:00.001-07:00

Those of you that know us know that we have a ranch in southern Utah. We run a summer camp for kids. We love it and spend our whole summer down in Bicknell. Well, a couple of months ago, we received a phone call from a group out of BYU Idaho that does a service project during their school spring break. They happened to choose our place this year to come down for 5 days and WORK!!! (I thought they were crazy to spend their whole spring break and do hard labor-but who am I to question.) Anywho.... as a result, they reconstructed our whole front fence, raked all the leaves.......
redid our bell-tower so that everytime it rings, it doesn't feel that it will fall on top of the person ringing it, re-did the inside of some cabins, etc. It looks really great, and we were soooo appreciative.
One other thing they did was rip out the carpet that was in our front room of the main house. No, this is not tile that they replaced it with, but this is the linoleum that was under it, pretty, huh? (we are thinking about leaving it:). Anyway things are looking great there.

If anyone knows of any kids (nieces, nephews, friends, cousins, etc.) between ages 9-16 that would love a great experience at a summer camp, we are giving great deals right now for tuition because we are a little behind in enrollment. Check out our website at www.navajotrails.com. Just a thought.

Rock Star

2008-04-22T11:38:00.001-07:00

My son is in the car WAY too much, which means, so am I. He is picking up on many lyrics and the rythmns of many popular songs. One day we were driving and I looked back and this is what I saw. Each time I stopped to take a video, he stopped doing his air guitar performance. So, I had to take the picture while I was driving. (I have to make this disclaimer: Please DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, I am a licenced driving professional.) I love this video, he is a rock star.... I will save this for our American Idol try-out in 13 years.

Easter

2008-04-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

I love Easter, although this year it happened to sneak up on us rather quickly. We enjoyed dyeing eggs with some of the neighborhood kids. Although Jessica looks a little bit sad, I really think that she was having just as much fun as the children. (or was it the refelection of the "tinfoil" that we had lining the table so it wouldn't get stained) who knows???
The Easter bunny came to our house and gave us WAY too much candy. But I think that my boys didn't seem to mind all of the sugar that was in their baskets.
It was a bit cold the day we dyed the eggs, notice the winter coat and the forced smile. He is trying to to say that he really was having SO much fun. Look at that cute girl next to him, she is yummy.

Spring Break

2008-03-31T19:01:00.001-07:00

For spring break we were able to have my nieces from Prescott, AZ come and visit for the week. They are such cute, sweet girls. We had a lot of fun with them. We don't get to see them very often so it was a treat to get to have them here. It was fun to have GIRLS around!!!
We went to the zoo and I was a little worried that they might keep my monkeys in the zoo and not let them come home, can you tell which one is the REAL gorilla?

Here Comes The Sun?

2008-03-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

We just recently went on a quick trip to St. George. We took the boys swimming, played tennis and we were able to see my handsome nephew, Andrew wh0 is playing football for Dixie. It was so much fun.
Can you see what I love about this picture? Do you see it? O.K. besides the two adorable boys in the picture having so much fun in the water.....yep, you guessed it, it is the SUN!!! I loved sitting by the water reading a book, watching my boys play and soaking in the sun. It felt so good. I fogot how nice it is so see the sun. Anyway, on our way home we hit a huge snow storm and we were back to the cold:(
Here we are, a bunch of rug-rats and my nephew and his cute "friend" Talisa. It took me awhile to get her name right, I kept calling her Teniqua, Tanisha etc. Oops, sorry Andrew, she was really cute.

The crazy threes

2008-03-06T19:19:00.000-08:00

I love the two's. Whoever said that they were "terrible" was wrong. Now, the three's are a whole different ball game. They learn how to USE all of those words that they were learning as a two-year-old. "NO" is a favorite in our household and many other clever, sweet, adorable words that the older brothers have taught the younger ones that I will spare you from. Anyway once-in-a-while the little monster in my three-year-old goes away and I am left with the funniest kid ever. If you look closely at this photo, he is wearing ski goggles and cowboy boots. Quite the combo.
He wore the ski goggles for a few days and loved them so much, he would sleep with them. He has the funniest personality. I tried to blog the video I took of him in his car seat, strumming an "air" guitar and singing to the radio with his eyes closed and his head moving with the beat, but it didn't work. Oh well.....
In this photo, I was in the kitchen cleaning while he was bringing all of his favorite toys into the kitchen and made himself a cozy little bed. He had 3 pillows stacked and it took him quite awhile to get the blanket just right with all of his toys on it. It took him a few tries to keep everything in its place while he got under the blanket. He was happy as a little clam. LOVE HIM.

Just Call Me Grace

2008-02-27T16:40:00.000-08:00

O.K., So you know the warning labels on ladders...they apply to EVERYONE! I thought they were for those OTHER people who were complete idiots, not ME! I have been painting and some of the places where I have had to paint were very high and above my stairs. I borrowed a ladder that goes on stairs to make it easier. Well, in my 5 minute briefing with a 15 year old showing me how to use it and in my mind going (ya, ya, ya I got it, I've used plenty of ladders before), I guess I failed to hear that all joints must be LOCKED. So with my paint tray in one hand and roller in the other one, I climbed up to the top. Just as I stepped on the top stair I felt a slight slip, I thought that it was my imagination, quickly I realized that it was a reality and the ladder collapsed, paint and my body went flying. I landed on top of the ladder, with the ladder on top of my feet. It must have been a very graceful scene. Ben came running in to see if he needed to call 911. I thought that I had broken my foot, but luckily I did not, I just got a really attractive foot for a few weeks.
This picture doesn't give it justice, but my foot is swollen and completely bruised at the base of my toes, black, blue and yellow are the favorite colors of the month. Ya, just call me Grace and looking at this picture reminds me that I need a pedicure!!!

New Friends

2008-02-13T12:46:00.000-08:00

I got to meet some new friends. Aren't they so dang cute? My friend Juli (and her husband John) live in Seattle and I get to stay with her and her cute family once a year. These are their latest additions, James and Jenny (yes that is right, JENNY-after me:) although she is lots cuter than I ever was, but she does resemble me a bit, right???) They are such good babies, it was fun to hang out with them.
I have a little namesake...wow who would have guessed? Can't wait to see them again, hopefully this summer, right John and Juli???

Sisters Trip

2008-02-05T16:32:00.001-08:00

O.K., so any of you with sisters know that your sisters can be your best friends. I feel really lucky because mine are. 14 years ago we went on our first sisters trip and we have been doing them ever since. We have been all over the U.S. and a couple of trips to Mexico. This year we went to Orlando. It was so nice to get out of the snow and enjoy a few days in warmer weather. On Saturday, we went to the temple. It was beautiful. We thought about all those who were able to go to President Hinckleys funeral that day, so we decided that it would be nice to spend some time in the temple.
This was me spending a little bit of time in the shops at the airport, waiting for our other two sisters to arrive from Arizona. I think at this point I was either missing my boys at home or just too excited to get to the theme parks....who knows?
This was a picture of the pictures that they take of you on the rides to see if it would work, who wants to spend $10 on this photo, not me!!! This was on the Hulk, we really liked this ride, can you tell?
We made it to Cocoa Beach just before dark, but who says you can't lay out and catch some rays in long shirts and long pants at 5:00p.m.? I think we caught some KILLER rays!!! All in all the trip was too short and too much fun. We laughed more than anything (cause we are WAY funny), and ate WAY too much. We are lucky that we all get along so well and that we love to be together. Sure do love my sisters!!!

Winter

2008-01-24T10:41:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we decided to take a trip to the ranch. The boys didn't have any games, so at the last minute we jumped in the car and drove to Bicknell. This time of year is the reason that I couldn't live there in the winter. It is so dang cold-the wind blows and so I sit inside trying to get a few projects done, but mostly I sit by the wood-burning stove and read a good book while my husband braves the cold and does projects outside, (silly Dan). My boys ride the motorcycle and go-cart until their hands are about to fall off, then come inside to do some of their favorite activities.......Luke (aka Luke Skywalker), can't get enough of the Star Wars series that we keep down at the ranch.....Do you think he is close enough to the action?
I was curious when everything was quiet so I went looking for my children. Then I walked into the pool room and saw this scene....what could all four of my boys be doing?
Oh........they were all envolved in very intense game boy games, even my youngest, and people wonder why we don't get a Wii or Game cube etc. My boys would turn into robots.
This is what we came home to on Monday. I got stuck at the foot of our driveway trying to plow my way through a couple feet of snow, somehow my minivan just didn't cut it, go figure. It took us awhile to dig out. FUN STUFF!!!

True Love

2008-01-16T10:35:00.000-08:00

Joe and I had a very interesting conversation the other day after school. I asked him how school was, and he said "fine, but recess was GREAT!" So, I, of course, asked about recess and his response was, "Mom, you are going to think this is WAY too old for me, but, I am in love." As I probed, he continued to tell me this story. "I was at recess and Lizzy, (a name we will be hearing a lot of in the near future), came up to me at recess and asked if I loved her and I said 'yes' and she said, 'me too'. Mom, I love her and want to marry her." I was trying to keep a straight face, because if you know Joe, he relates things in a different way, I love to hear him tell stories. He continued to tell me that, "dad was right....the girls are all over me, well....one anyway. Ben will not even believe it." He went on to tell me his real feelings as we went to my sisters house. When we got to her house, he was beaming and told her the same story, and at the end he said to her, "well, it looks like you're going to have another granddaughter." What the heck? What kid says that? We were dying. Joe is in love!!!!

New Year

2008-01-16T10:16:00.001-08:00

This is what our New Year has started off like. LAZY!! Notice anything wrong with this picure? This is Dan and my bed, but where are we??? This is how every morning on this holiday vacation started off like. One by one, the rugrats would get into our warm bed with us until there was no longer any room and we would get pushed out of bed. We enjoyed the time off of school, work etc. I feel that the holidays went by too quickly and was one big whirlwind. Now that the kids are back in school and Dan is back at work, I feel like I am getting a little bit more accomplished. I am getting back into the routine etc. I still wish that we could all sleep in again for a little while longer.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-28T09:28:00.000-08:00

These are four happy boys on Christmas Day. Josh's big present was the 'Go Diego' backpack that makes lots of noise and sings all kinds of songs. He has such a groovy dance that goes along with the music that I recorded on our video camera, but unfortuneately I don't know how to download it to the blog. Luke got a 'power ranger' phone (that cost $20) and he loved it until he saw his best friends 'power ranger' phone (that cost $2) and said he wanted one like his friends. He still loved the gameboy games he received. Joe got a helicopter and some art stuff. Joe is happy with anything and everything, to him this was the "best Christmas EVER". Ben got all of the accessories for a Gameboy DS. He was thrilled. His DS will be coming in February after he is finished with his 1 year without candy deal. We had a nice Christmas. I love getting together with family and friends.
Christmas breakfast (compliments of Dan the chef)....Fresh squeezed orange juice (shipped straight from Arizona from my sister), bacon and eggs, and toast. Love Christmas morning breakfasts!!!
Christmas Eve, we went to my sister Lindas house. We had a yummy dinner and then, as tradition has it we act out the nativity. We have had the baby Jesus for many years now and I think that we will have to retire our parts so that someone else can have the opportunity to play Mary and Joseph. We are hoping for someone to take over, we need some new babies, if not, maybe we can handle it for another year. Cutest baby Jesus you have ever seen???
Absolutely adorable wisemen singing "We Three Kings".
Here are some handsome shepherds abiding their flock, waiting for the angel to appear. We also had some REAL talent by Austin playing the guitar and his girl-friend who played the violin. We played the bells and sang Christmas songs. We love this time of year. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and enjoyed the spirit of the season.

Happy Birthday Ben

2007-12-17T11:31:00.001-08:00

For Bens birthday we went skiing. We invited the Williams family to come with us. I can't tell you how much of a birthday present it was for me, rather than Ben. It had just snowed and the powder was amazing. I (I mean WE) had so much fun. It was a little harder for the boys to ski in, but it was such a great day for skiing.
The morning was warm, but it got colder as the day went on. We stopped in for hot chocolate.
We came home and got cleaned up and went for a competitive round of bowling with his friends. Ben is now 10 (no more single digits for him). We love him and hope he had as good of a birthday as I did:)

Thanksgiving

2007-11-26T08:55:00.000-08:00

This is how we all felt after a delicious meal at my mother-in-law, Nancy's house. The morning started off with a large famiy photo downtown at Busaths. It was cold. All of Nancy's children were there with their families, so it was a lot of fun for her to get a picture. Everyone (including the kids) was very patient. After the photo, we went home and finished the baking and took our portion of the meal to Nancy's. We ate and ate and ate, then played games and then ate some more, because you have to finish the meal with pie and ice cream. We had a lot of fun with the cousins. Especially the ones from out of town. Not because they are the same ages as my boys, but because they are GIRLS!!! We have one girl cousin that lives here in Draper, and we love her, she babysits for us and is wonderful. We went to the Hale Center Theatre one night...
we went downtown to see the lights at Temple Square and went to the Discovery Museum at the Gateway Mall, which was a lot of fun.
Josh barely had to walk, he was carried on someones shoulders the whole time....lucky sucker.
Josh was ready for the cold.
Thanks to Nancy for having us all over for Thanksgiving. We had a lot of fun and I am pretty lucky to have married into a great family. I have a lot to be thankful for.

Tuscon

2007-11-14T19:23:00.000-08:00

It looks like our kids really missed us while we were gone last week, doesn't it? Our cute niece Kailan watched them for the weekend-they look miserable don't they. Good thing we weren't gone too long...who knows what shape they would have been in:)

Dan and I had the chance to go to our annual conference for camp. This year it was in Tuscon at a ranch called Tanque Verde. Our accomidations were really nice and we had such a great time. Not only are all of the people in the association really good people, but they are a lot of fun too. We played in the annual golf tournament on a beautiful course. The desert is actually very pretty. We were able to play tennis, go mountain biking, hiking, swimming and golf (twice). Oh yeah, did I mention we had to go to a couple of meetings here and there, but overall we were very active. The food was amazing and pleanty of it. It was a nice break and I think our kids had a ball without us for a few days. Thanks for all of the people who made it possible for us to go. We have amazing friends and neighbors.

Fall

2007-11-06T21:35:00.000-08:00

I love the fall. It is my absolute favorite time of the year. We (my children) had so much fun playing as I worked hard with my husband to try to contain all of the leaves in one area. Not a chance...
We let them have their fun. (notice the Halloween costume).
My kids are becoming quite the golfers. We have taken them a few times to hit golf balls and it was so much fun. Joe hit a few that bounced off of the black guards and almost hit us. Luckily we were one of very few people out that day and no one got hurt. Joe giggled so hard at some of his crazy shots. We have to work on hitting straight.

Halloween

2007-11-01T09:53:00.001-07:00

Oh to be 3 again...What to be for Halloween. Before we got into the costume box, Josh was set on being Darth Vader. We bought the mask etc... and he was excited. After he saw all of the options, he could no longer decide. So, on Saturday he changed costumes every 10 min. Between an alien,a tiger, Darth Vader, Spiderman....
or a mix of the costumes...
He finally chose spiderman. Ben had a difficult time choosing between a hula girl and a hippie, and decided a hippie was better for school.
And so it was for Halloween...Two super-heros, a vampire, and a hippie. Boy am I one lucky mom. Fun was had by all.

Costumes

2007-10-25T12:05:00.001-07:00

As you can see, I am totally safe at my house. I have two very powerful, very capable and very serious super heros to watch over me. There is no way any bad guys will dare come through my door. Thanks to their cousin Spencer who bought the capes for their birthdays, Halloween will be a little easier to deal with this year. As for my other two boys, it has not been this easy. One wants to be the "Scream"guy with blood coming down his face...Eeew! The other one is at the stage where dressing up is a little stupid, but for sure wouldn't miss out on it either. For example: Darth Vader is cool, but dressing up like him is not. SO...not sure what we will throw together at the last minute, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Potty Training

2007-10-23T08:18:00.001-07:00

Ahh...the joys of potty-training. I couldn't have a happier pupil to work with, don't you think? It should be a piece of cake....right? So I thought that Sunday would be a great day to start. We had our Stake Conference (which was so good) in the morning, and we had the rest of the day to focus. He did so well. He went every 2 minutes (which was fun) and was excited to wear "big boy" underwear. He did great with going pee, now the big hurdle was the poop. Little did I realize that he would have, today of all days, DIAREHHEA. Just a FYI to all of you who have not potty-trained yet, don't do it when your child has no control over the poop part, it is not fun to clean up. So, today is a new day and we are crossing our fingers that he has that problem fixed:)

Update

2007-10-15T15:32:00.000-07:00

O.k.,O.k., I know that the picture of my three adorable brothers was getting a little old, but I had to wait until I could find time to sit and breathe!!! The last few weeks have been a little bit crazy. We went the ranch on conference weekend. We had such a great time. We made Luke pick all of the apples and didn't let him come down until he had enought for an apple pie.
Ben took Josh for a spin on the motorcycle to teach him how to ride early, we do things a little bit differently down at the ranch...
We woke up in the morning and found about 30 wild turkeys in the orchard and all Josh had to say about that was "Mom, SHOOT THEM!!!" Nice, huh?
When we got back we had Lukes birthday, which happens to be the same day as our anniversary, "fun" is not the first thing that comes to mind to have to share that day, it is actually makes for a crazy day... we will do it differently next year:) Look at his cute friends, Josh was just a bit too excited to be at Chucky Cheese, and Ben...what is he doing? Don't know, but what I do know is that I am learning too much about boys and how to be a mom to 4 of them!!!
The highlight of the past few weeks is Joes baptism. My cute, sweet Joe was smiling from ear to ear from the time he woke up on Saturday until he went to bed. He is one happy camper. My mom and dad were in town for it and that made it really special. We love our JOE.

So, now, about our anniversary. I was in charge this year, (we switch every other year). Dan's years are always so much more creative and fun. He is so good at suprising me or doing something sweet. Last year was our trip for Scotland and I think that he thinks that was enough for the next ten years. Although it was so much fun, I don't think he actually wants me to be in charge of it that many years in a row, and here is why...I must confess that I wanted to something great, but time ran out so quickly that I had no time to plan, and plus, I am not that creative. So, after doing Joshs birthday, Lukes birthday, and thinking about the baptism (and doing a flower show inbetween), I was not up for the task. WHAT DO YOU DO FOR AN ANNIVERSARY? I asked a lot of people, and dinner and a movie was about all I got. So, I did make a reservation at a nice restaurant (the day of) and then looked at the movie choices and it wasn't much. So, I acted like I had it all planned and we were going to do something great. After dinner, I told him the movie choices and we were on the same page...Nothing...so I decided to go miniature golfing (WHO DOES THAT for their anniversary?) They were closed. Then I thought of the brilliant idea to go shopping and maybe visit Rachel at the SPA (good idea). We went to the mall at 8:45p.m. and realized quickly, the mall was closing. No massage, no shopping spree, ugh! We got back in the car and I mentioned renting a movie and we both had the same reaction...naw...we were too tired, and went home! Doesn't that sound like fun? If you want me to plan any of your upcoming events please let me know.

Brothers

2007-10-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention what amazing brothers I have. I am really lucky to have 6 wonderful siblings. My brothers are very talented, handsome and kind. They set a pretty high standard when I was looking for a man to marry. They are great examples to me and I love them. I knew that my husband would have to have the qualities that my brothers had and I have to admit that I married well. :)
O.K. so I couldn't find a current picture of my 3 handsome brothers. This picture was taken at our wedding, they clean up pretty well, all dressed up in tux's. My oldest brother on the left was not too thrilled about the thought of his youngest sister getting married. He tried to smile and give us his best wishes, but it was hard for him. My youngest brother in the middle felt bad when, at the moment the picture was taken, our 5 tier cake was knocked over by one of the groomsmen who thought that it was time for the dancing to start. My other brother was just plain shocked that Dan actually said "yes". Sure love them! xoxo

Sisters

2007-10-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

spring at the ranch

Now that my sisters know that I have a blog, I have to acknowledge them in some way. My sisters are amazing. I am so lucky to have such fun, good-hearted, beautiful, kind etc. etc.... sisters to look up to. I have three sisters, I don't have a picture of the three of them together, so I will have to post one of my other sister later...I am sure she will be so excited!!! By the way the two adorable children they are holding, are responsible for making me a GREAT aunt. Sounds sooooo old. They are the first great nephews in the family (identical twins).

So, here is to you my sisters!!! Sure do love you and can't wait for the sisters trip this year...where to???

It's time I joined the bloggers

2007-10-01T11:38:00.001-07:00

Couer'd Alene, Idaho

thanks to Christine, I am now part of the blogging world. It's about time, because I think that we were the last ones in North America to get cable T.V. and high speed internet, so I think that it is appropriate that we are the last ones to get a blog spot-oh no, maybe the Tuttles will be:).

O.K., so I am sitting here trying to figure this whole thing out and I am really not computer savvy. I am hoping that blogging (what a weird name) will help me feel better about failing at my attempts to be a dedicated journal writer and scrapbooker. I hope to have a lot of fun with this when I figure out how to do all of the cool stuff!

p.s. I don't mean to brag--, but I think that I have pretty cute kids!!! We had a great vacation to beautiful Coeur d' Alene Idaho after camp. I love traveling with my kids.